This document describes the Database Abstraction Layer (DBTNG) introduced in Drupal 7. DBTNG provides a unified API for database queries that works across different database backends like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. It supports both static and dynamic queries. Static queries use placeholders and prepared statements for security, while dynamic queries are built programmatically using a query builder object. Methods are provided for SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and MERGE queries. Transactions and reading from slave databases are also supported.